A fund manager for whom wealth creation is no rocket science

Kulkarni makes a point that fund management is a different ballgame in comparison to the typical procedural or process-driven job.

NEW DELHI: Getting noticed in a male-dominated space is a feat in itself. It gets more heft if finance comes into play. Swati Kulkarni of UTI AMC has done all that, and much much more.

She is a firm believer in timing it well. "There's no rocket science in wealth creation, rather it's simple mathematics. The earlier you start, the more wealth you build," she tells you.

Her pet peeve? The executive vice-president with 27 years of professional experience hates to be recognised as the "woman fund manager" and is averse to taking any gender-specific query.

On Women's Day, we profile one of the shining stars of the fund management industry where women are vastly outnumbered by men.

Early lifeKulkarni graduated in commerce and went on to earn her Masters in financial management from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies of the University of Mumbai. A rank holder, she holds CFA charter conferred by CFA Institute, USA.

The long track record
Kulkarni has a professional experience of a good 27 years, of which the last 26 years are with UTI AMC. She has been designated as a fund manager since 2004. Earlier, she was part of the fund management team involved in analysing companies across sectors and assisting fund managers. She has so far handled MF and market research, product reviews and quantitative analysis as part of the Research and Planning team at UTI.

A difficult callOn the ongoing fluctuations in the market, Kulkarni says, "Whether it's the start of the bear market or not is very difficult to call, but we are moving to better delivery. If you look at the valuations, it was high because the underlying growth wasn't that great."

She is convinced that the pace of pick-up in earnings growth will be supportive of equities.

"Worldwide, the market had a very low volatility in 2017, which is very unlike the equity market. Usually, the stock market is known to have greater volatility and greater risk. Last year, it was also the kind of synchronised growth in the world and there was a lot of liquidity. Now, the market is expecting three rate hikes by the Fed. If they hike rates more aggressively, it will shock the market further. Tightening of liquidity in the developed market and reduction in balance sheets have caused correction too," Kulkarni explains.

She is of the view that grandfathering could have cushioned the sudden shock of LTCG tax, but it has more to do with global cues.

Sectors that show promiseBanks and metals are going to play a bigger role in earnings revival for the next two years, according to Kulkarni.

"The credit cost which we are seeing now and the asset quality recognition should be put behind us once we enter FY19 second half. So, banks will be a bigger supporter in FY19 and FY20 growth. Second could be metals as commodity prices have remained strong," she reasons.

No cakewalk for womenKulkarni makes a point that fund management is a different ballgame in comparison to the typical procedural or process-driven job. In terms of active participation, one needs to be on their toes all the time as she is the constant decision maker in the team.

"You need to stay updated as the world is very dynamic. There's randomness in the equity market and hence, many variables can affect the outcome," she cautions.

Hence, there is a significant number of women dropping out of workforce post marriage as the priorities change. Most of them have their locations changed and are not comfortable with long working hours, so on and so forth.

Kulkarni backs up: "It doesn't take much to start saving on a monthly basis... it's just the question of some control over your monthly expenditure."

She illustrates her point. "If putting some curbs on your expenditure, you can easily carve out a small amount and that could help in a big way in terms of accumulating wealth over a period of time. If you save Rs 5,000 per month, in 20 years, it will be close to Rs 38 lakh and you will build Rs 66 lakh for 25 years. It's simple mathematics... the earlier you start, the more wealth you create," Kulkarni adds.